Impaired Left Side Function

[DapperDan]

Hi,

I’m a new member and am wondering if any of you have come across something similar to what I am experiencing before. I will start from the beginning…

I have always had intermittent back problems, I was told I had a particularly curvy spine for a male (very in and out), lower back pain initially when I was 17 and on and off since then (not sure if this is relevant but will let you know anyway). I have been working out with weights since I was 15. I will detail a few points that I cannot decide if they are linked…

Point 1

In 2001 I moved from a physical labouring job, to a very intense desk based data entry job where I was working through lunches and working 8am until 5pm in the same position doing the same thing over and over. Within a month I was getting pain in the back of my hands, a few weeks on and it had radiated up my forearms, as well as altered sensation (hot felt wet etc), weakness, shaking and clumsiness. I quit the job and working out for a while and it eased a small amount, not much. I decided to try working out again but the moment I did it got worse. This went on for some time until, doctors didn’t want to know so I went to a physio who thought it was likely to be Thoracic Outlet Syndrome due to my forward head position and overly tight pec minor and increase in symptoms when doing anything overhead. He got me doing chin tucks and stretching my chest out in a doorway and this helped, near enough ridding me of symptoms and allowing me to return to a desk job and workout again as long as I didn’t do anything like shrugs, and I had to be careful about how much overhead pressing I did as both would bring back symptoms. Also, it started back then and still now if I sleep with my arm above my head it will be completely dead.

Point 2

When benching one time a completely blinding headache came over me mid set, so much that I rack the bar and was rolling on the floor of the gym. I presumed migraine so went home and rested. I went back in the gym to finish my workout from the other day and the headache came straight back when benching, again just as intense. A few days later and any form of exertion brought it on (sex, solo or otherwise was out of the question!) and I had a constant headache behind my eyes, I went to the doctors and they sent me to the hospital where I had a CAT scan on my brain and a lumbar puncture. Both came back fine and I was packed off with the diagnosis of an exercise induced headache where the muscles of the back of the neck clamp on the skull.

Point 3

In 2004 I had been having some lower back pain again, then when I was swimming one night it felt like my groin pulled whilst doing breast stroke. Over the next week or so it turned into quite bad sciatic pain down my right glute and thigh. I put up with this for two weeks but in a fit of temper I decided that it wasn’t going to stand in my way so tried to do some deadlifting, in the hours that went by after it seems to ease off and it never came back, but in its place was a mild tingling in the just to the left of my spine in my mid back about level with the bottom of my shoulder blade. This continued for a while and faded, but found that if I did weighted crunches that it would bring this tingling back, so I avoided them.

Now onto the real problem…

February 2008 and I had been having shoulder problems with my right shoulder, couldn’t press in any way due to sharp pain in the shoulder joint. I figured it was shoulder stability so was hammering shoulder depression exercises like dip shrugs, like a hanging pull up shrug, scap depressions of all sorts. But also at this time I was hammering overhead shrugs, which I know goes against everything I said in point one, but it seemed to help the shoulder. At the same time I was deadlifting quite a bit and doing a lot of hamstring work as I had had recurring hamstring strains whilst playing football that season, something I was wary of due to my back. One particular session I did a lot of chin tucks afterwards and also aggressively stretched my neck for the first time in ages by holding a heavy dumbbell in one arm and tilting my head in the opposite direction which was painful at the time.

Now, something then happened at work the next day day, I had a strange tingling/tickly feeling in my left hip/thigh at about 3.30pm, I didn’t think much to it as I sometimes had got strange sensations and stretching alleviated them so I went to the toilets and stretched but nothing happened this time. I came to leave work at 5pm and as I was walking down the stairs my left arm and side of my face went tingly, my breathing went shallow and I felt like I was about to pass out (from here on I will refer to these episodes as ‘attacks’), I had to kneel for a minute or two before groggily walking to my car. I went to the NHS walk in centre straight away to tell them what happened, a doctor looked at me, checked some reflexes and my eyes and said it could be a migraine and it will subside. The next day my left side still felt week and a bit shaky, and no real improvement the day after that so I went to my GP, he sent me to the hospital to see a neurologist and he ordered a MRI scan of my brain and upper spine and a lumbar puncture, at this point they were looking for evidence of a stroke or even more frighteningly, MS. Both came back clear, and were totally normal bar a disc in my cervical spine, cant remember which one, that was bulging out and pressing on my spinal column, but he dismissed that also. It was then suggested I may have neurosarcoid, again lots of tests ensued and nothing came of that either, so it was back checking for MS, again no evidence. Now this is where is starts to get weird. I had a constant feeling like a slight lack of function or strength in my left side, if felt like it was radiating from my left trap. I had come to think in recent times its because the stabilising muscles on that side means it elevates too easily, my left shoulder blade feels like it’s the weakest link.

A few oddities relating to this:-

- Overhead work involving the traps seems to aggravate it, as does direct bicep work, split squats, lunges, deadlifting and planks or any kind of side bend.
- Benching seems to help
- I have suffered additional attacks, always around the 4pm mark, only on work days, and I am pretty sure it is always the day after I have been doing chin tucks, needless to say I am not doing them anymore and haven’t had an attack for some time, touch wood.
- It switched to my right leg for a period in 2009
- Last summer I was doing planks and side planks every night, and my function on my left side was getting gradually worse over a number of months so I stopped them but I didn’t improve, I was getting very scared at this point as I thought I was on a steadily quicker decline, on the Saturday it went in my right leg too, but I went in the gym on Sunday and did only the exercises I knew didn’t aggravate it, it was only a 35 minute session, barbell shoulder press, wide grip lat pulldown and then bench and its like someone had waved a magic wand, all the areas that had felt weak then felt warm and like significant function had returned, my lightheadedness was gone and I could think clearly again. I felt a lot better, not 100%, but better. I have done this same workout at times when I feel particularly bad and it always seems to help?
- During this period last summer I was also having quite bad neck pain too.
- I have had headaches behind my left eye, one time I went to see a chiropractor and told him about this and he cracked my neck and the eye pain was gone, again the warm and increased function feeling.
- I did some boxing on the bags and I was holding my left shoulder up the whole time in the stance and I could feel it was getting really tired, and was burning and almost cramoing in my trap as its not used to being worked at all, and it made my left leg almost drag as I walked, I couldn’t control it, which again made me question my left trap and neck. It took about a week and doing other exercise for it to improve.
- I went go-karting on a stag do last October, obviously going fast round corners and heavy helmets, and that made my left side weaker and me a bit light headed.

I got discharged by the hospital a couple of months ago after 3 years of testing me, including when I was at my worst, and nothing showing on anything of them.

As of today I still have weakness in my left side, I have neck pain almost always at the moment (maybe due to the fact I lack traps and always seemed to of, or maybe because of the disc), I have occasional muscle twitches, and the days I don’t feel great I also have light headedness.

Has anyone came across anything like this?

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[physiobob]

Wow. A lomg read but thanks for the detail. A few initial questions.

Are you very mobile, possibly even hypermobile? This could account for a disc issue in the neck associated with to many weights. Also would explain the wrist issues and neural signs.

Have you had a full neuro examination that included reflex tests at the time you were symptomatic. I was think more muscular dystrophy or Fascioscapulohumeral dystrophy from your initial descripton or a cervical dics lesion. Why was the MRI positive for a disc pressing on the cord and then thought not to be the case. The position of the disc and therefore cord compresion may well be position and mm activity dependent. i.e a supine lying MRI with no weight on the neck may not show what happens when the weight of the head is added along with muscle contraction.

I would NOT be attending the gym or doing any weights until you get to the bottom of this. I would advise an upright MRI perhapsin protraction and flexion of the neck to see how that looks. Perhaps also upper limb EMG studies to see if they highlight any abnormalities.

[DapperDan]

Hello,
I think I have got to the bottom of this, I saw a physio a number of times and we kept addressing issues, but still got no better. I have been tweaking things myself and came across something bizarre...

My Psoas on my left side seems very weak/inhibited. I fail on Psoas strength tests (cannot hold knee above 90 degrees for any length of time, TFL cramps from compensation). Engaging the Psoas makes my whole body solidify and all the muscles engage.

I think it may be from when I dislocated my left patella when 15 and again when 17. I was put in a plaster cast from hip to ankle but being a foolish youth I didn't used to use my crutches, instead walking the couple of miles to school and back having to swing the cast round.

Another thing I noticed, any posterior chain/hip dominant work makes my legs go as heavy as lead and lose some function. Any hip flexor work and they feel light and nimble.

Has anyone come across this? What would be the best way to stregnthen/reeducate the Psoas, particularly it's stabilising function? (I have been doing shoulder presses from a v-sit that seem to do this a little)

Thanks for any help.

[Garrett]

I've had a remarkably similar set of experiences from symptoms to episodic "attacks" which have landed me in the hospital about 7 Perhaps wrongly, I've written these episodes off as migraines and unsuccessfully treated them as such. I have experienced nearly all of the same issues at one time or another. My "attack episodes" tend to get better with rest; however they usually continue for a number of days, the exact number seems to depend on how severe of an attack preceded. I have knee problems (loss of cartilage on bottom of femur due to disproportionate outside quad strength) which most likely worsens the impact of my spinal structure; I too have an abnormal front to back curve. My spine also has a slight side to side curve and my hips are somewhat torqued (something I was told by Doctors when I was playing competitive sports.) You didn't mention these issues explicitly but PSOAS are the same as yours. most likely resulting from (or causing) the torqued hips, so you may want to check on this. MRI shows considerable loss of cartilage on femur in the knee joint. Consistent on both sides. Your knee disclocation can be best be compared to my Achilles (full rupture) which surgically repaired and followed by a long recovery during which I favored my right leg.I believe we can both agree that the similarities are striking. What did you learn about the Thyrodic Outlet Syndrom? Flexing the front of the neck seems to have helped you, this has helped me, but what seems to be a mismatched or partially dislocated clavicle (at the Right sternum) has shed light on an extremely week, if not unable to fire and react at all, back of shoulder. I have large traps, so this could still be the issue. To summarize... Entire right is hyper developed compared to the left side which seems to be losing streaghth and function. Migraines are always on right side of head, neck, and face. Considerable cartilage loss on in both knee joints.Any help from other members would be greatly appreciated.

[DapperDan]

Further update on this:

I am still struggling with it. The left psoas may still be an issue as posterior chain work seems to inhibit it and the left femur feels like it is coming out of the acetabulum, and the only way to get it back in seems to be to stretch the left glute.

The most interesting development is that both my brothers have now developed the same thing. Both have previously dislocated the left patella, and we all demonstrate the same faulty stabilisation patterns, involving bearing down and inhaled breath holding, lumbar rounding, thoracic extension, extreme neck flexion/chin tucking, even when doing very low level stuff.

None of us can expand our rib cage effectively and instead seem to breathe into the lower stomach and tilt the rib cage back, effectively firing up our extensors with every breath. We all carry our rib cage anterior to our pelvis most of the time, except when stood still when we slump either onto one hip or into a sway back.

We all have pelvis rotated to the right, ribcage counter rotated to the left, right scapular abducted, left scapular adducted, what appears to be internal tibial torsion on the left side.

Also found my Mother must be the source as she has the exact same structural issues, except without the neurological issues. I would presume me and my brothers have magnified it by being gym goers who have been reinforcing these patterns by performing exercises in a faulty fashion for so long.

One thing that seemed to cure it all was that me and one of my brothers had our atlas adjusted, and for a week after we felt light and full of function, exercises felt totally different, then we regressed back bit by bit over the next couple of weeks.

Has anyone any ideas what it is or what to try next?